


Down To The Wire

by Furorscribiendi



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-11
Updated: 2012-01-11
Packaged: 2017-10-29 09:04:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/318105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Furorscribiendi/pseuds/Furorscribiendi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's 2010, and the relationship between the members of SG-1 isn't the same, especially between Daniel and Jack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for _2010_. In fact, the whole fic won’t make sense unless you’ve seen the episode. Though, by that token, it could be said that you could read the fic and still know what is going on, since it is very episode-dialogue heavy. This was inspired by Daniel's line in 2010 of, "Which reminds me, what was Jack's excuse? I expected to see him here." What if there was another reason that Daniel wanted to see Jack. And I had to use a transcript to make sure i got everything rigbt, so some credit must go to SG1_Transcripts, a YahooGroup I got it from.
> 
> This was written for [](http://keikokin.livejournal.com/profile)[**keikokin**](http://keikokin.livejournal.com/) 's Fanlore I.  
> 

Jack liked it up at his cottage. He liked it even more now that he was retired, and had been for a solid unbroken ten years. Though, considering how he had left, he was lucky to have been allowed to retire and not face a court marshal.

Once they’d gone to P4C-970, things had steadily gone downhill.

He’d always said that if something was too good to be true, try shooting it first; then you’d see what it was really made of. And that was what he wanted to do when they first met the Aschen; they were smarter, friendlier and willing to share a buttload of information and technology with Earth. The Aschen just sounded too good to be true.

But Daniel and Carter had protested, saying that they should at least give the Aschen a chance. That had been a real blow to Jack; these were the people he made the time of day for, almost always took the time to listen to. And when he had that concern they shot him down faster than an unresponsive plane over a militarised zone.

But gut feelings couldn’t be written into mission reports, not if there was nothing to validate them and provide sound proof. Everyone else seemed to think the Aschen were heaven sent. Jack wanted to send them packing to a place six feet under.

When the Earth-Aschen alliance was formed, he raised a big stink. So big that Hammond had to take him off duty for a good while, so the talks would proceed unhampered. And when Jack was allowed to come back, he raised the same concerns, his gut screaming at him that what was happening shouldn’t be; that something had to be wrong and they were seriously being screwed over.

He knew it was all over when a permanent Aschen delegation arrived at the SGC. Jack was supposed to be there to greet them. The Aschen were very particular about social protocol. And Jack had deliberately snubbed them by going to the firing range rather than meeting them in the gate room. Hammond had called Jack to his office after that and suggested immediate retirement since a report had been filed and would reach the Pentagon in a week.

When the shit had hit the fan, Jack was up in Minnesota, enjoying his fishless pond and the simple solitude.

Even when the technology changed rapidly around him, he only bought what was needed. Old technology was replaced with no halfway point. It was either the new stuff or nothing at all. As much as it rankled him, he still needed to stay in contact with the world, know what was going on, so he got the new televisions, virtual reality headsets, clocks… only what was needed. He may not have liked the Aschen much, but there was no point in fighting it if this was what the entire world wanted.

Occasionally, he would see Carter, Teal'c and Daniel on television awarded for something that SG-1 did. And it was always Daniel that added on, “Colonel Jack O’Neill couldn’t be here today,” as if Jack was actively participating in the Earth-Aschen alliance still.

That usually resulted in Jack turning off the television with a scowl. It just seemed so damned sanctimonious of Daniel to not listen to him for just once. Jack had listened to the archaeologist loads of times, always considered his input and then decided from there. All Daniel had done this time was shut him down without even listening.

Daniel with that infuriating habit of acting like he was always right, even if he was in a new situation and didn’t know what to do. The same Daniel that slid Jack sly glances and stole his lime jell-o when he wasn’t looking. The same Daniel who looked Jack straight in the eye, while saying the most innocent things, and licking his lips suggestively, but with that ever subtle, easy-to-miss undertone of innuendo. Daniel should have been the one person there that day to hear him out and consider what he was feeling in gut.

It really did rankle and Jack was glad to be alone up in Minnesota. If he saw Daniel again, he didn’t know what he would do. And he preferred to not find out.

______________________________________

Daniel was getting very tired of attending ceremonies of this sort at Colorado, especially the anniversary ceremonies. He had been spending the past ten years either on digs or teaching. With all the new technology, the field of archaeology had really taken off and, increasingly, there was precious few dig sites left that could be found that hadn’t been thoroughly mapped and catalogued. Palaeontologists were scrapping it out to work at Liaoning in China, one of the few truly active digs left in the world. But the main bulk of archaeologists were either teaching at universities (something else highly competitive to get a job for) or working offworld.

Of course for someone like him, he was almost always asked when a dig came up, even if he was needed in the smallest capacity. Infamy had come with being part of SG-1.

But he was currently teaching at University of Colorado in Boulder. It was a short move, and an even shortened commute to work. Of course once it became public knowledge that he was the one that cracked the stargate code, the universities from all over the world had come flocking to him, offering jobs. He’d seen the world, and a good portion of the galaxy; quite frankly, he didn’t want to be anywhere else other than where he was now.

The whole ceremony itself had been very dry and boring, but it was nice to see Teal'c, Sam and Janet again. Jack, as usual, had opted to not attend at all. The reception was even worse. He’d been tracked down by a few more head hunters from some universities, trying to lure him away with offers. How they even got into a closed event like this was beyond me. In fact he had been contemplating leaving altogether when Janet managed to find him.

“There you are Daniel,” she smiled. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“It’s a big space port.” Daniel replied before he turned to the lady. “I must be needed elsewhere, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ll make sure to get back to you on Princeton’s offer…”

And before the lady could say otherwise, he slipped away into the crowd taking Janet with him.

“Very slick,” Janet chuckled once they were out of earshot. “Do you do this sort of thing often?”

“You have no idea. I’ve been teaching in Colorado for the past ten years and they haven’t clued into the fact that I’m not taking any offers of any sort. I had to learn to get rid of them.”

“Well Sam and Teal'c have been wondering where you were.” Janet paused. “Where are did they– ah, there they are.”

Janet steered him easily through the milling people. He could see glimpses of Sam, Joe, her husband, and Teal'c conversing. As they approached, Daniel could see a smile light up Sam’s face as she still talked to her husband. When he came to a stop, Sam turned her full attention to him.

“I was starting to think you were trying to avoid us,” Sam grinned.

“Do you really think I’d come here and not make sure to see you?” Daniel asked with a quick smile as he surreptitiously looked around.

Sam grinned. “It’s nice to have everyone… well, almost everyone here again.”

The cheerful mood seemed to slightly dissipate at that, and Daniel opted to look down into his champagne glass. When Sam cleared her throat loudly, he looked up once again.

“To General Hammond.”

“To General Hammond.”

Daniel clinked glasses with everyone else, feeling an odd pang on regret. Hammond should have been here to enjoy this; he’d taken a chance when the SGC was first forming up, placing a civilian on a frontline exploratory team. He felt as if he still owed a great debt to Hammond, something he would never be able to pay back in full. Though, he probably owed even more to Jack; after all, he was the team leader and had a definite say in who was on the flagship team. What did surprise Daniel was that even after all the arguing, sniping and general haranguing they put each other through; he was still on the team.

Sam’s soft voice brought him back from his own thoughts. “… Him. Especially today.”

“Yeah, how long has it been anyway?” Daniel asked.

“It has been six years.” Teal'c replied.

“Which reminds me,” Daniel began, unable to resist any longer. “What was Jack’s excuse? I expected to see him here.”

“O’Neill has made his feelings very clear concerning the Aschen alliance.” Teal’c stated.

“Well, he could have come to see us.” Daniel took a quick drink of champagne. ‘ _He could have come to see me._ ’

“I almost didn’t come myself.” Janet stated as she fingered her glass.

“What?” Daniel asked; that struck him as odd. Janet was _always_ at these anniversary functions, and a multitude of others.

“It’s easier for you, Daniel,” Janet began. “I mean your job wasn't made obsolete - and if I,” she stopped abruptly in mid-sentence. “Mollem.”

Daniel resisted the urge to snort; if he hadn’t taken the teaching job, he’d be duking it out with others for digs and have no job security. Archaeology was a field on the very brink of becoming obsolete; he understood perfectly.

“Forgive me for interrupting,” Mollem turned to Joe. “Ambassador, the Aschen delegation is eager to hear about your visit to our South Continent.”

Daniel blanked out the words as Joe bade Sam goodbye and gave her a kiss. He had really been hoping, like an idiot, that Jack would be there. He didn’t like how he had left things with Jack and wanted to make amends. He’d been so blind-sighted by the vast amount of actual and potential knowledge that came with the Aschen that he completely ignored Jack. Well, shot him down if one wanted to be picky. And considering the number of times Jack took a chance on him and actually listened, Daniel felt like a callous heel for doing something like that to Jack. There was that bitter bile taste rising up in the back of his throat, a good indicator that he was in for a good round of wondering just why he had shut Jack down like that.

“So,” Sam asked as she looked around at them. “Where are we going?”

“I had planned on returning to Chulak.” Teal'c answered.

“Oh come on Teal'c, we haven't seen each other in ages. Please.” Sam pleaded.

Teal'c inclined his head. “Very well.”

As much as Daniel felt connected to them, he wanted to be far away from them at the moment. Very far away.

“Dinner?” he suggested; he _really_ had to get out of here.

“Sounds great.” Sam enthused.

“Yes, dinner.” Janet agreed.

“Great to see you again.” Sam said.

“I’ll see you soon.” Janet replied.

“Okay.” Daniel agreed, feeling a bit of relief.

“Bye.”

Janet’s reply was followed by a quick kiss on the cheek, which Sam gave him one of as well. Daniel walked off after that, draining his champagne glass. He left it on a passing server’s tray and headed for the exit, adroitly avoiding the Princeton head hunter that was skulking about the door. It didn’t take much longer to get to the port pad and the head over to his apartment. It was almost exactly the same as the one he had when he was living in Colorado Springs. Only it was bigger and had a few more artefacts, though the word ‘few’ was open to a fairly relative interpretation.

He threw off his jacket, shucked off his shoes and went into the living room, tie coming loose as well. He’d just undone it and was sliding it off when a picture by the lamp caught his eye: a team picture. He dropped the tie on the arm of the couch, reaching down and picking it up. This was taken on B8J-654 after they, and SG-10, had managed to successfully negotiate for naquahda.

It had been Captain Moore’s idea to take the picture. It was a sunny day, with not a cloud in the sky. Sam and Teal’c were smiling broadly, since Sam had made a crack about something involving magic fingers. Jack was standing right beside him, baseball cap twisted around, a tuft of hair poking out of the hole. The P-90 was held loosely as his arm was around Daniel’s shoulders and grin on his face.

Daniel loosened the top button of his shirt, eyes narrowing as he looked at the picture. Jack’s hips were angled in slightly, facing Daniel’s. In fact, Jack’s whole body was angled to face Daniel. And Jack was giving him a sort of sidelong look with that grin didn’t look entirely innocent. In fact, it looked downright promising, of something, if the cards were played right.

Daniel gritted his teeth, and placed the picture back, but face down. He didn’t know why he left that picture out. Just looking at it reminded him of what would never be now, of how _he_ had managed to cock it all up spectacularly. Cock it all up…

He swore darkly to himself as he went into the kitchen and got himself a glass and a bottle of Bailey’s before going to sit on the balcony. To think he still had dinner to go to with Janet, Sam and Teal'c.

This was going to be a rough night.

______________________________________

Dinner had been going well. Daniel had a slightly euphoric feeling, courtesy of his friend Bailey’s and was enjoying himself without feeling like a complete screw up. Of course, that was _before_ Janet and Sam revealed their big conspiracy theory.

He didn’t say anything for a moment as he took in their hushed words. “Guys, I think it would be public knowledge if something this catastrophic was happening to the entire population.”

“Would it?” Sam asked with an urgent tone in her voice as she shifted in her seat. “The Aschen can convert planets into stars; you don't think they could control the media if they wanted to?”

Daniel paused and licked his lips. “Assuming the Aschen could keep something that big secret... it's been ten years. Why now?” he didn’t want to really speak what was bothering him about this in the first place; Sam would not like it.

“We were completely taken in,” Sam regarded her drink miserably. “This way they didn't have to fire a shot. It's slow, methodical, painless...”

“Okay,” Daniel started, trying to wrap his mind around this. “Then why provide a vaccine that almost doubles the human life span? That doesn't make any sense.”

“Unless that's the mechanism they've used to sterilize the population.” Janet mused slowly.

“They're certainly patient enough,” Sam said bitterly. “All they have to do is wait.”

“Then within two hundred years, there will be very few humans,” Teal’c said with a worried look. “If any will remain. The Aschen will have this world to themselves.”

“Well, we have to do something... I don't know; tell somebody.” Daniel said, sounding outraged.

Janet took a deep breath. “The night before General Hammond died he called me and said he needed to speak with me about something very important. Something that he couldn't discuss over the phone,” she paused, watching her glass. “The next day I told the Aschen doctors, I said this is impossible, he could not have died of a heart attack he was in perfect health, but they said their diagnostic machines were infallible.”

“You believe he was murdered.” Teal’c stated flatly.

“At the time, no,” Janet sounded a bit disappointed, probably in herself. “I believed the same as everyone else: the Aschen were our saviours...”

“So we can't tell anyone, we have to keep this to ourselves.” Daniel mused. There must have been, on some level, a good amount of co-operation between the Aschen and the people of Earth to administer the vaccine on such a scale.

“Well I have to tell Joe.” Sam stated.

“Maybe you shouldn't.” Daniel said slowly; Joe, as an ambassador, probably would have known about the sterilisation program.

“Daniel, if you're even suggesting he knows about this –” Sam started.

Daniel was not about to get into a fight with Sam about Joe’s possible involvement. “I'm just saying that it's all of our lives are at stake here --”

“Yes, he can help us!” Sam whispered vehemently.

“How?” Daniel would take a different tack with this. “Say he goes to the President; The President goes to the rest of the world. Even if what's left of every army on Earth mobilizes... what would they be able to do?

“Fight back.” Janet replied.

“They would be defeated,” Teal'c mused. “As were the Goa'uld.”

“We have to think of something else.” Daniel said slowly with a thoughtful expression.

“Like what?” Sam asked.

“I don't know,” Daniel floundered for a moment, mind considering the possibilities; Jack would have been much better at a more immediate threat assessment. “Contact the Tollan; find the survivors of the Tok'ra, there have to be some left out there. Teal'c, what about the Jaffa?”

“Few remain loyal to the Tau’ri since the war's end,” Teal'c began. “There are only a few healthy symbiotes available for implantation.”

“We don't even control the stargate. Oh, God... what have we done?” Sam hung her head for a moment. “This morning we were celebrating...”

“Now I wish we could take it all back.” Daniel said softly.

Their waitress came to the table. “Will there be anything else?”

“Apparently not.” Daniel muttered as he shook his head.

The waitress walked off and Sam had a thoughtful look on her face. When she was sure that the girl was out of earshot, she spoke.

“Maybe we can. Take it back.”

“How?” Daniel asked slowly.

“General Hammond showed us.”

Daniel saw where she was going with this. “He left us a note.”

Janet looked sufficiently puzzled. “What? What are you talking about?”

Sam shifted in her chair, launching into explanation mode. “A number of years ago a freak accident sent us back to 1969. We know that by dialling coordinates on the opposite sides of the sun at the exact moment of a solar flare it causes the wormhole to turn back towards Earth on itself and creates a time distortion,” she paused. “Theoretically, we could send ourselves a message.”

“Wait a second,” Daniel only saw one flaw with the plan. “I thought you said it was impossible to predict the exact moment of a solar flare.”

“For us, yes, it was. But with access to Aschen computers...” Sam trailed off, her meaning perfectly clear.

“Wait a second here,” Janet began. “We're considering changing the lives of the entire human race on Earth; do we have the right?”

Sam watched them all for a long moment. “If we don't, then we will live to see the end of the entire human race on Earth.”

Those sobering words lay heavy in the air, and everyone looked at their drinks. Daniel could feel that bitter bile feeling rising in the back of this throat, saying he would be spending some time with Bailey’s later on tonight. Was this what Jack’s gut was warning him about all those years ago? What Jack had tried to warn them all about? Considering the number of times Jack’s gut feeling had gotten them _out_ of trouble, they could have taken the time to listen to him; even if they were horribly blind-sighted. Jack had been right from the start.

He cleared his throat. “Do you think Jack would help us if we asked?”

“I don’t know,” Janet shrugged. “It’s a long shot.”

“Indeed it is,” Teal'c agreed. “O’Neill left in a most unfavourable mood.”

“Pretty pissy is more like it,” Sam amended. “I mean, we didn’t exactly listen to him, did we? All we wanted was a look at the technology.”

“And culture.” Daniel added on. The back of his throat was burning again and he took a gulp of his drink. “I can’t believe we did that to him.”

“Did not O’Neill move to Minnesota?” Teal'c asked after a moment.

“Yeah,” Sam replied. “Northern Minnesota, wasn’t it?”

“I think so.” Daniel replied.

“You’ve been there?” Sam turned to face Daniel.

“No, though Jack used to tell me about it.” Daniel didn’t speak for a second. “We’re going to need Jack’s help if we want to pull this off.”

“It should be one of you two to ask him.” Janet said easily.

“Come again?” Daniel asked incredulously.

“I agree,” Teal'c added on. “Either you or SamanthaCarter would be the ideal choice. I must return to Chulak by the end of the night.”

“I’m busy until the end of next week.” Sam explained.

“I’ve got a full teaching schedule right up until November.” Daniel added on.

“Well between the two of you, work something out,” Janet stated. “Because you said it yourself Daniel: we need Jack to pull this off.”

______________________________________

Jack was not happy. His gut was doing its usual thing of telling him that something was off. What he couldn’t figure out was why it was bothering him after he made a run to the convenience store for beer, toilet paper and assorted junk food. This was the first time it was really acting up since P4C-970 and the Aschen. But as he pulled into the driveway, he saw the reason why.

Standing there, facing the front door and talking on a cell phone and a hand shoved into his grey trench coat pocket, was Daniel.

Jack grabbed the bag of stuff and opened the truck door. Daniel still didn’t notice and jabbered away, something about landing and China. When he slammed the door shut, Daniel jumped and turned, the cell phone flying from his hand and going to his waist to grab a non-existent weapon. It sailed up over the house and a few seconds later there was a wet ‘plunk’ sound.

“Good distance.” Jack said flatly as he walked around to the back.

“Hi Jack.” Daniel sounded nervous as he followed.

Jack just grunted and walked up the back steps, going into the kitchen and leaving the door open. He rested the bags on the counter and when a shadow fell across the floor, he knew Daniel was hovering in the doorway.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you last.” Daniel finally said.

“Ten years generally is a long time.” Jack replied in the same tone of voice.

Daniel gave that familiar sigh that told Jack he was about to bite the bullet.

“Look there’s a reason I came up here.”

“Imagine that.”

”We need your help.”

Jack paused, a box of Twinkies in hand. “Keeping a bunch of snot nosed, hormone riddled youngsters in line?”

“What?” Daniel sounded lost.

“You teach right?” Jack continued putting the rest of the things away. “University of Colorado up in Boulder.”

“You know about that?”

Jack snorted and rolled his eyes. It was only splashed across every single newspaper for a while. “No clue really. It was all a lucky guess.” He didn’t speak for a moment. “What was that call about?”

“Oh, they wanted me to fly out to Lianing in China for a dig,” Daniel replied absently. “We really need your help Jack.”

There was Daniel going on with that ‘we’ thing again. “Who’s we?”

“Me, Janet, Sam and Teal'c,” Daniel started in a rush. “We realised what the Aschen are doing.”

“Oh?” Jack paused and looked at Daniel as he balled up the plastic bag. “Doing something like what? Making sure everyone stays young and keeps their wits about?”

“No, something much worse: they’ve been sterilising us,” Daniel paused. “With the anti-ageing vaccine.”

“Hey, not my problem. I stayed far away from that crap,” Jack threw the bag under the sink. “And it sure as hell isn’t my fault that everyone let the snake slither right into the garden, now is it?”

“Jack, are you even hearing what I’m saying?” Daniel demanded. “We have a good chance to do something about this before –”

Jack gave a snort of exasperation and started for the living room. Yeah, now they wanted him to fix their massive screw up, like he was some sort of handyman. He could hear Daniel following right behind him. He’d just stepped in when Daniel’s hand landed on his shoulder. Jack spun around and Daniel recoiled against the wall, blue eyes snapping in anger. Jack stepped in closer and started before Daniel could finish what he was saying before.

“You know what; it’s not my damned fault if you decided to take that stuff!”

“Who says I took it!” Daniel retorted. “Jack, we’re talking about the extinction of humanity as we know it!”

“We, we, we! What about –” Jack drew back abruptly, heading back to the kitchen. He had _not_ just done that. It would have been nothing less than a disaster if he had finished that sentence.

“Damn it Jack, would you just listen to me?”

Daniel grabbed Jack by the arm and pulled him back roughly. Jack found himself hitting the wall a bit hard and Daniel watching him with a hard expression.

“Listen to me Jack,” Daniel began again slowly. “We have a chance to fix this, stop it from ever happening.”

“And what do you want me to do about it?” Jack demanded a few minutes later. “Jump in and be the hero again?”

Jack watched as Daniel closed his eyes for moment, as if resisting an urge of some sort.

“I want you to get over your damned pride and do something! How can you just say that you’ll stand aside and let the Aschen get away with this!?”

“Well, as I’ll be good and _dead_ by that time, I think my conscience will rest easy!” Jack snarled back.

Daniel blinked and then glared at Jack. “Yeah, your conscience will rest easy. Must be really easy when you’re bitter as hell.”

“Damn right I’m bitter!” Jack glared back at Daniel. “I tried and what did I get? You shot me down like I was a moron! Even when we got back! I kept trying and what did it get me? Look where it got me Daniel! I took the time for you and that was how you repaid me!”

Daniel’s breathing had increased, become slightly ragged, and Jack could feel hot gusts of it moving over his face. It seemed that Daniel was struggling over saying something.

“I wasn’t the only one who made the mistake of not listening to you Jack.” Daniel finally said softly. “But we have a chance to –”

Jack shook his head, blocking out the rest of what Daniel was saying. What the hell was he doing; sublimating his anger and a wad of other emotions directed at Daniel? That was just asking for trouble. But when Jack hazarded a glance at Daniel again, he could see the other man was gearing himself up to launch into an outright, full-blow lecture; probably of a somewhat self-righteous nature.

“Look, you made your bed and now I can lie in it.” Jack snapped.

Whatever Daniel had been about to say dried up right there as he watched Jack, eyes starting to narrow.

“What did you just say?”

Jack himself was wondering the same thing. If there was ever the mother of Freudian slips, that was it right there, in all of its huge, honking, embarrassing glory.

“I just said you all made your bed and now you can lie in it!” Jack replied.

“That’s not what you said,” Daniel said baldly. “And you said something else earlier, you didn’t –”

“Damn it Daniel, don’t you ever let up?” Jack pushed him aside so he could walk into the living room. “I’m not helping you with your crackbrained scheme!”

“Why are you acting like this was only my idea?! Daniel bristled. “I told you that –”

“It doesn’t matter who else is in on it,” Jack began. “What matters is that –”

“Do not try that trick on me,” Daniel snarled as he walked closer to Jack. “I want to know why you’re being particularly pissy with me!”

“You want to know why?” Jack glowered at Daniel. “Fine, I’ll tell you why! You didn’t trust me! All right?! Out of all the shit we’ve been through, you pick that time to be a completely ignorant ass and not pay any attention to what I had to say!”

“Well, you tucking tail between your legs and bolting didn’t exactly help in the way of me apologising, now did it?” Daniel retorted.

There was an angry, but wounded, expression in Daniel’s eyes, but Jack was far too wound up now to pay much heed to it.

“You think I tucked tail and ran?” Jack seethed in a quiet voice as he stalked up to Daniel. “You’ve got a lot of damned –”

“Well, what else would you call it Jack?” Daniel sneered as he crossed his arms. “You –”

Jack didn’t want to hear the rest, didn’t want Daniel to keep talking; he just might continue asking why Jack was only referring to him and put the pieces together. And Lord knew that Jack didn’t want to go there quite yet. He balled up a fist and socked Daniel right in the jaw. Daniel took the blow, hand flying to his face for a moment as he recoiled from the shock of it. Then he was standing back up straight, eyes spitting fire at Jack.

Jack couldn’t exactly say when Daniel had launched himself, fist flying out to retaliate. But they ended up on the floor, scrapping it out, bellowing at one another, flinging words, insults, accusations and replies.

And Jack couldn’t say either when the kissing had started. One minute there were knuckles, fists, yowling, cursing and then lips on lips. The kisses were broken by a gasped and moaned continuation of their argument.

When the clothes had disappeared and skin on skin contact had started, he didn’t know exactly either. But he figured it was about the same time that the words were reduced to single epithets. Jack showed no mercy, biting and scratching as he moved against Daniel, the friction and actions continuing the argument.

They moved against one another, working themselves up to a fever pitch and when it all came to a resounding apex, they were still cursing one another, strained gasps in lieu of the bellowing rage.

And when Daniel collapsed on his chest, breathing heavily, Jack found himself at a complete loss for words. He ran his hand down Daniel’s back, feeling the raised scratches and heated skin. His own heart was still thumping wildly, body singing with exultation and satisfaction. He huffed when Daniel turned his head, forehead pressed against Jack’s skin.

“Jack,” Daniel began, his voice rough and scratchy. “I can’t say anything besides I’m sorry.”

Jack didn’t speak for a moment. “Let’s go to bed; the floor gets cold.”

“Jack,” Daniel started again.

“C’mon.” Jack pushed at Daniel’s shoulder to get him off.

Jack drew his breath in sharply as Daniel slid off slowly, lips brushing against skin. But even as they got up, Jack wanted to be kissing those lips again; to make those gasps, groans and pleas come from them. He got up awkwardly, kissing Daniel hard with a hand around his neck. Daniel gasped and jerked up, pulling Jack with him. They stumbled down the hall, kissing and groping at one another until they reached the bedroom, ready for another round.

And when it was over, Daniel curled up around him with a content look on his face. Jack knew Daniel was dozing off; he could feel it in the way Daniel’s breathing was evening out, slow and deep.

Jack was left awake, staring up at the ceiling and completely in dark as of just what to do next.

______________________________________

They must have been ganging up on him; that was the only possible explanation that he had.

He and Daniel were… intimate at least three more times in the course of the day and night. Jack hesitated to denounce it simply as sex; after that first wild time, tenderness like that was not from just the primal urge. But he couldn’t quite define it as love either; both he and Daniel had held back on saying anything definitive. What they had existed in some shaded grey area that would be a nightmare to fix. But that chance never came because when Jack woke the next morning, he found Daniel gone and a folded note on the pillow.

All the note had said was, “I’m sorry I didn’t have enough faith in you Jack.”

All those words had done was managed to make him feel angry and utterly miserable at the same time.

And not even two days after Daniel had come, Carter had shown up. She was asking for his help as well with their plan.

Maybe Daniel had worn him down, softened him up, but even as Carter made the same arguments, he couldn’t help but see Daniel’s angry blue eyes instead, daring him to actually step up and do something about the colossal manner in which the Aschen had duped the entire planet.

Granted, Carter had some more solid facts on the execution of the plan. But when Jack looked at it, all he could hear was Daniel’s angry voice and not Carter’s calm rational one. Carter had seemed disappointed when she left and Jack tried; he tried, to stay angry at them, to tell himself that his greatest pressing concern was whether or not to get a dog.

But even as he mulled it over, he had a sinking feeling that he knew what he was going to do.

______________________________________


	2. Chapter 2

Daniel still didn’t know what had possessed him to hunt down the location of Jack’s cabin and _actually_ go up there. He honestly had no clue what he would say to Jack after so many years. And he could tell right away from Jack’s reaction to seeing him that they would definitely be hashing it out.

What he hadn’t expected was the sex. Daniel didn’t know where the well of emotion had come from, but once it surfaced, he hadn’t quite known what had hit him.

Not that it wasn’t enjoyable, but in that early morning, seeing Jack sleep without a care in the world, he couldn’t help but wonder if they did have the right to drag him back into it. As Jack had tried to say, they had made their bed. Jack had done his part, and it was only now ten years later that it was realised and only by a handful of people. And the more he watched Jack, the more he realised that it would have to be Jack’s choice anyhow; Jack knew and the decision would be his.

He’d quietly gotten dressed and left, but not before leaving a note on the pillow. He didn’t know if not staying would have made Jack angrier or who knew what else.

And if he had stayed, he wasn’t too sure how he would have dealt with all those emotions that had surfaced.

“Daniel.” Sam whispered as she dug an elbow into his side.

He looked over at her as the elevator came to a stop. The tour guide was giving her perkiest smile as the elevator doors opened.

“All righty everyone, everyone please step all the way out, we've arrived at level twenty eight.”

Daniel followed the crowd out, Sam right beside him. The guide had stopped walking and was now facing the group.

“Can anyone guess at what special room is on this floor?” the woman asked, surveying the group.

“The gate room?” a kid in the front answered.

“That's very, very close...” Daniel was surprised and annoyed at the patronising tone in the guide’s voice. “Anyone else?”

“He's right. It's the gate room.” Daniel added on.

“What I'm sure many of you don't know is that officially it was known as the "embarkation” room,” the woman raised her hands to make quotation signs. “Because, that's where the SG teams "embarked" from.”

Daniel resisted the urge to snort as the woman made the signs again and lowered her hands.

“Okay, now we're walking... this way.”

Sam nudged him in the side again and Daniel ignored it, choosing to follow the group. When they came to a stop in front of a picture, he gritted his teeth to stop the groan from coming out. Thank God he wore a trench coat and hat to hide his face.

“And these people comprise the famous SG-1,” the woman turned to the photo. “Arguably the most important – although not my personal favourite team of the entire command.”

Daniel glanced at Sam as the guide said those words.

“And we're walking...” the woman said again.

He tuned out the rest of the tour and only walking into the gate room caught his full attention once more.

“While of course the real stargate is in Washington at the J.R. Reed Space Terminal, this one is a perfect replica of the original. Should you want photos, they're twenty-seven dollars each and please do not touch the stargate itself as you'll leave fingerprints. "See you on the other side.”

“This is ridiculous.” Daniel muttered as they walked up the ramp.

“We couldn't break away until there were more people around. Once we're in the control room –”

“Not her personal favourite SG team?” Daniel repeated.

Sam grinned. “Just don't ask for the photo.”

Daniel started to reply but the words dried up as he recognised very familiar silver hair under a baseball cap. And a fading bite mark, just hidden by the collar of the jacket.

“And we're walking...” Jack said casually, in a voice low enough for only them to hear.

When Daniel looked at Sam, there was complete surprise in her eyes. He shrugged and slipped past a group of posing tourists. It took them a bit longer to slip away and make their way up to the briefing room. Even when they walked in through the doorway of the shadowy room, Daniel could see Jack sitting where General Hammond used to sit. There were some zats on the table, what looked like a G.D.O and some other sort of gun.

“Hey,” Jack turned to watch as they came in. “Thanks for showing.”

“We decided to take the last tour of the day,” Sam said as she sat down. “So, when did you decide against getting a dog?”

Daniel sat down hastily, pushing his hat up so he could see a bit better.

“I'm still thinking about it. In the meantime I took the liberty of doing a little shopping for you,” Jack slid each of them a zat. “The zats are completely operational.”

Daniel caught the weapon as it came towards him. He could feel Jack watching him and he opted to focus on the zat in his hand. Then Jack’s eyes were off of him and the sound of something else sliding across the table came.

“This, however, presents a problem.” Jack continued.

Daniel looked over to see Sam studying the G.D.O.

“It's a replica.” She finally said as she looked at him. “Daniel, was this the only one?”

Daniel would have replied but a flicker of motion through the window made him look over.

“Excuse me, you people aren't supposed to be – Colonel O'Neill?”

They all stood, seeing Sergeant Davis standing in the doorway; if he blew the whistle, they were done. Daniel stood there, trying to look innocent and hope that it didn’t come to that. Sam seemed a bit fidgety, like she was already impatient.

“Sergeant,” Jack paused for a moment. “What're you doing here?”

“I work here now. I'm sort of the operations tech advisor.” Davis said slowly.

“Oh, well you're doing a great job.” Daniel said; a bit of flattery couldn’t hurt.

Davis frowned a bit. “This section is closed off.” He paused. “You're here for old time's sake –”

“That's it exactly.” Jack declared.

Davis seemed appeased with this until he spied the zats in their hands. “Where did you get those?”

“The zats?” Jack looked back at the weapons in their hands. “Armoury. We're taking them.”

Davis shook his head. “No, no, no.”

Sam finally seemed to lose her patience. “Sergeant, please this is really important: Do you know where our real G.D.O went?”

Davis gave a half shrug. “I'm not a sergeant anymore, you're not colonels, and you're not supposed to have that remote either...”

“Oh that's good,” Daniel began. “Because actually we don't want that one. We want the real one.”

Davis seemed a bit flustered by that logic. “It's In the White House. In the Oval Office, on the President's desk.”

“Kinsey grab a souvenir on the way down?” Jack said derisively.

“Look guys,” Davis began. “I don't know what –”

“Ah Walter,” Jack interrupted. “Right now I need you to trust us. Turn around, walk away, pretend we weren't even here. I'll bring everything back I promise. Thursday.”

“Then you'll tell me what's going on?” Davis asked warily.

“Absolutely everything.” Jack said; Daniel found it a bit amusing that he had the same expression that Boy Scout probably had when making a pledge.

“Okay.” Davis finally said.

Both Daniel and Sam said, “Thank you.” Davis just looked between them all for a few long seconds.

“Thursday.” Davis reiterated before he walked away.

Davis’ footsteps had barely faded from hearing before they were sitting back down. Jack had a piece of paper out, a pencil in hand.

“Okay,” Jack began. “Last time I was in the Oval Office I got kicked out. Can we do it without a G.D.O?”

“Radio?” Daniel suggested.

Sam shook her head. “There's an EM dampening field around the terminal, part of the automated defences.”

“So we're about as far back in time as we're going to get.” Jack stated.

“I think I can get it.” Sam said after a moment.

“Joe?” Daniel asked.

He was glad he wouldn’t be seeing that play out. Jack had a dubious look on his face as he regarded Sam.

“He's a good guy.” Sam said with a touch of vehemence.

“If you tell him there'll be no going back.” Jack warned.

“Of course if you don't tell him, there'll be ... no going back.” Daniel said, voicing the alternative.

“He'll do it. I know he will.”

Daniel didn’t say anything for a moment, seeing the way Sam was looking at her zat a bit apprehensively. “Look, why don’t we get out of here before someone else comes along?”

“Good idea.” Jack replied.

They quickly packed up their stuff and slipped out from the briefing room, catching the last group of tourists leaving. Once they hit the surface, Daniel could tell that Sam was already suffering from nerves.

“I think I’m going to head home early. Wait for Joe.” She said. “You two will be fine on your own?”

Jack nodded his head and Daniel felt his throat dry up. How was he supposed to survive being alone with Jack after that day up at the cabin? Then Sam said the words that were like a life preserver.

“You’d better call Janet and let her know what’s going on.”

“I’ll call her now and have her meet us at the restaurant.” Daniel said, already digging his cell phone out.

Sam said her goodbyes and practically bolted for the port pad, looking pinched and anxious. It didn’t take Daniel long to call Janet and have her meet them at the same restaurant they had gone to the first time.

And when they walked to the port pad and then to the restaurant, neither Daniel nor Jack said a word to one another. Daniel wasn’t all that sure of what he should say. Jack didn’t seem all that bothered by it, but every so often he would pointedly not look at Daniel in a manner that said he was trying to not look. Janet wasn’t there when they sat down at their table. Daniel grabbed a breadstick and took a bite out of it; if his mouth was full, he couldn’t talk.

“You sure know how to romance a guy.” Jack drawled a bit lazily.

Daniel stared at him in shock, inhaling sharply to reply. Unfortunately, the bread in his mouth went flying to the back of his throat. He started coughing and Jack half rose from his seat when a forceful, and very familiar, slap was delivered right between his shoulder blades.

“Thanks Janet.” He wheezed before quickly swallowing the bread.

“Not a problem. It’s nice to be useful for once.” Janet replied cheerily. She sat down, scrutinising Jack. “I really didn’t expect to see you here Colonel.”

“What can I say?” Jack shrugged. “Apparently you kids can’t do anything with proper supervision.”

“So, you’re on board with the plan?” Janet gave a quick smile. “That’s good to know Colonel.”

Jack shrugged again. “So what exactly are we discussing?”

“What we should send through,” Daniel answered. “It needs to be clear enough so there’s no misunderstanding.”

“Makes sense,” Janet said with a nod of her head.

“All right then.” Jack added.

Daniel took another bite of the breadstick, looking between Jack and Janet. They were looking at him expectantly.

“What?” he asked a few minutes later.

“Shouldn’t you get started on that note?” Janet replied.

“Me?” Daniel looked between them once more.

“You are the linguist.” Jack answered.

“Was.” Daniel corrected.

“Potato, potahto.” Jack gave a dismissive wave of his hand.

Daniel made an exasperated sound as he put his breadstick aside and fished out some paper and a pen from his pocket. It didn’t take him long to write out a message, after all, he was keeping it simple and concise, and show it to Jack and Janet.

“I think this is the note we should send.” Daniel said.

Jack and Janet hovered over it for a moment, reading intently. When they straightened back up, they looked perplexed.

“That’s it?” Janet asked.

“I thought about including more information,” Daniel began. “But I think in this case the simpler the better.”

Jack looked at the message for a few more seconds. “Why don't we just stick one on a rock and throw it through?”

“It would never make it through the automated defences.” Daniel replied.

Jack seemed to be considering something else now. “Can we at least mention who won the Superbowl in 2004?”

Janet smiled in amusement as she drank her water. Daniel wasn’t so amused.

“No.” he said.

“World Series?”

“No.”

“Grey Cup?”

Daniel gave a slight huff of disapproval. “I put it in my own handwriting so I'll be able to recognize it when I read it.”

“I think we should all write a note of our own,” Jack suggested. “In case I don't make it to the gate, you can keep trying.”

Daniel looked between Janet and Jack, not saying anything. He knew that if the message did get through then, none of this would happen. And Lord knew that he didn’t want any of this to happen at all, now that he knew the cost. But still, hearing Jack saying those ominous words made his gut twist up, and wish he hadn’t gone up to Minnesota.

It was easier to deal with the potentially hazardous breadstick that mull over Jack’s words.

______________________________________

“Hot in here?” Jack quipped.

Carter flashed a momentary grin. “This is a real time representation of the actual sun, recorded by Aschen satellites all over the solar system.”

Jack vaguely paid attention to what Carter was saying. Frasier and Daniel were there as well, looking at the giant hologram of the sun – it reminded Jack of something from an episode of Star Trek. He felt like he was sneaking into enemy territory when he stepped into this Aschen building. He supposed, in a manner of speaking, it was like that. All this “covert mission prep” had him peering around corners, lying in wake for a potential lurker to spring out from around the corner. He knew Carter would have secured the area before having them all come, but old habits died very hard, kicking and screaming to the bitter end.

“How do you use it to predict a flare?” Frasier asked, peering at the sun’s bright corona.

“I've been studying Aschen knowledge of solar dynamics for the Jupiter ignition project.” Carter began as she hit some buttons on the panel. “There are significant changes just beneath the surface of the sun preceding a flare that are detectable by the satellite net...” she pointed to some spot on the sun. “Look right here... if my calculations are right, there should be a flare in about five seconds.”

Jack looked back, finding everyone looking intently at the sun. Sure enough, like clockwork, a bright orange flared arced up and across the sun’s surface.

“That’s it.” Daniel said softly.

“Now all we need to do is for the computer to predict another flare,” Carter mused as she punched more buttons on the panel. She looked up at Frasier. “Have you got your travel papers for Chulak?”

Frasier nodded her head. “Yeah all set.”

Carter reached for a paper in her jacket. “Give this to…”

Jack didn’t quite hear the rest; he’d heard the echo of a door sliding open and shut. Sure enough there came the sound of hurried footsteps; he had a very good idea of who that could, and probably would, be. Though he shifted, making it look like he was leaning against the wall, when he was really positioning himself to make it easier to reach his zat.

“Joe’s here.” He called. Sure enough, Joe came right around the corner, and gave Jack a barely disguised look of irritation and annoyance. Jack could play this game as well. “Ambassador.” He said, borderline polite.

Joe gave a barely perceptible frown. “I knew you'd have something to do with this.”

“Did you get it?” Jack asked, not bothering with anything that could be faked as pleasantries.

Joe didn’t look at him, but Carter, as he answered, “Yes.”

“Thank you.” Carter replied.

“What are you going to do with it?” Joe asked.

“Send a message.” Jack answered.

“To who?” Joe asked.

“To whom,” Jack couldn’t quite resist the urge to be snarky. “Let’s have it.”

Joe’s expression hardened. “I'll hand it over if you give me your word that Samantha will play no part in this.”

Jack now resisted the urge to smack him and say that this entire plan was Carter’s idea in the first place. At least it sounded like it was. Either that or she had come up with one hell of a true conspiracy theory.

“I can’t do that.” Jack answered.

“It's in a briefcase at the customs office at the Stargate Terminal. They've been instructed not to release it without my authorization,” Joe paused. “Your word.”

This was not good; there was a much greater chance that this would fail horribly if Carter wasn’t with them. “We need her to pull this off.”

“Whatever it is, you'll have to do it without Sam.” Joe stated resolutely.

“Joe,” Carter began. “Unless I help –”

Joe cut her off. “This is not negotiable. You don't want to tell me what it is you're planning, fine; I'm better off not knowing. But if it involves G.D.O's, then it involves the stargate. And the terminal is the last heavily defended place left on Earth,” he paused. “I will not let you risk Sam's life.”

Jack may not have liked Joe, but he could respect and understand where this particular sentiment was coming from. “Okay.”

“You won't have back up –” Carter began.

“We won’t need it.” Jack finished, still regarding Joe.

“Um,” Daniel called. “The sun's beeping.”

Carter turned her attention back to the hologram. “We have a flare prediction... fifty seven minutes from now,” she looked at Jack. “Is that enough time?”

“It’ll have to do.” Jack answered, finally looking away from Joe.

“So what do we do now?” Daniel asked.

“You, Jack and Janet should leave. I want to talk to Joe alone.” Carter said firmly.

Jack didn’t need a louder clue to know that Joe was in for one hell of a verbal sparring session. He motioned to Daniel and Frasier and they followed him out quickly.

“Sam’s going to tear him a new one.” Frasier commented as she shook her head. “I know he cares for her, but I think he just bit off way more than he could chew.”

“Wake not the sleeping beast, lest it bite your head off.” Daniel murmured.

“I don’t recall that one.” Frasier mused.

“That’s because he just made it up.” Jack answered.

Frasier chuckled. “All right look, if we’ve got to be at the space terminal in less than an hour, I’ve got to go home and take care of some things. I’ll see you then, all right?”

Jack nodded and watched as Janet hurried off to one of those teleport pad things; actually, a lot of the Aschen crap reminded him of Star Trek. Daniel was walking along, hands in his pant pockets, studying the floor beneath his feet.

“Daniel?” Jack asked after a few moments.

“Yes?”

“We’re not really good at… this,” he gestured between them. “Are we?”

Daniel gave a dry chuckle. “What was your first indication?” he paused. “I shouldn’t have left.”

“You didn’t have to stay.”

“I know that; I still should have stayed. My students weren’t about to die if I didn’t show up to lecture.”

“The great Professor Jackson skipping class to get nookie?” Jack asked with a laugh.

Daniel didn’t reply for a moment. “It was more than ‘nookie’, wasn’t it?”

And Daniel had torn open the whole thing with one simple statement. It took Jack a long while to reply. By the time he was ready, they had stepped outside underneath the shaded walkway.

“I don’t know.” Jack replied in a soft voice.

Daniel stopped him, a hand gripping his shoulder tightly. “You don’t know?”

Jack didn’t say anything as Daniel regarded him for a long moment, blue eyes intent and searching. There was a small urge that told Jack to look away, and seek shelter. But most of his brain had dug its heels in and opted to not back down. How much longer would he and Daniel go on hurting one another before it all stopped?

“Oh,” Daniel’s hand relaxed and he slid it down Jack’s arm. “I didn’t suppose it would be that easy after all this time, would it?”

Jack wasn’t fooled; the tone in Daniel’s voice said that he hoped it would be. “It was a long time.” He paused. “Wounds run deep, aren’t forgotten.”

“Very eloquent… in a haiku-esque manner,” Daniel gave a wry grin. “Though it wasn’t a haiku; close enough.”

“Just give it some time, that’s all.” Jack said after taking a deep breath. “And hopefully, if we do succeed, we won’t act like two colossal asses.”

“But what if it works, what if we don’t…” Daniel trailed off looking at Jack intently. “Ever.”

“I said colossal asses, not idiots.” Jack chided.

Daniel smiled and laughed at that. “You think it’ll just sort of happen again.”

“Worked this time, didn’t it?”

“You can’t leave everything to chance.”

“Seems to work for the most part.”

Daniel shook his head as he started walking for the port pad. “I’m going to get going; I left my stuff at home and I need to get it.”

“Want some company?” Jack asked; he didn’t have to be at the space terminal for a bit.

“If you’re that bored,” Daniel said as he stepped onto the port pad. “But no comments about how many ‘rocks’ I have.”

“How many rocks do you have?” Jack asked innocently.

Daniel snorted and smiled at him. Jack watched him before he looked at the keys on the port pad interface.

“Uh, isn’t this the part where you punch in your destination or other?” Jack asked.

“I will,” Daniel replied. “But there’s something I want to do first.”

“What’s th-uumph!”

Jack’s words were drowned out as Daniel pulled him down for smouldering kiss, tongue working and hands roaming; not that Jack was complaining. He could already hear the scandalised gasps and murmurs from behind him. For all the Aschen technology had done to advance humanity – and screw them over – old attitudes were still prevalent and very hard to uproot.

Daniel drew back after a few minutes, licking his lips. “And someone I want to do first.”

“Sweet,” Jack gasped as Daniel’s fingers started across the interface’s keypad. “Pre-mission nookie.”

______________________________________

Daniel was wound tight. Jack had been at his place for all of thirty minutes and the moment the door was closed, Jack was on him. If Daniel hadn’t set his watch to beep when they had fifteen minutes left until mission time, when walking to his apartment, they would have been scrambling to make it on time. Jack had apparently lost the original note and barely had time to scrawl out another note and have Daniel look it over with approval; though when Jack was double checking his bag, Daniel scribbled something in the bottom corner.

Now, he was waving to Janet as she walked up to the stargate, to go to Chulak and give Teal’c the dialling co-ordinates. Once Janet was through, he slowly made his way down to the gate. Off on the second level, he could see Jack, leaning against the rail, bag by his feet and obviously suffering a conversation with Mollem. Though, from the look on Mollem’s face, Jack was being as polite as he was when they first met, which was barely borderline.

Daniel hurried down the escalator as he heard the sound of the stargate dialling from an outside origin; that would be Teal’c coming from Chulak. He arrived at the security scanners just as the event horizon formed and Teal’c came striding through with a friend in tow. Daniel made sure to listen, since he would have to take his cue from Teal’c.

“I'm sorry, sir,” the dialler hurried over to Teal’c looking mightily offended. “But weapons are not allowed.”

Daniel stepped through the security scanners, setting them off and temporarily distracting the dialler.

“It's archaeological equipment,” he explained, resting the case on a table as a security guard came over. “This happens every time.”

“We carry these for ceremonial purposes only,” Teal’c explained.

“I'm sorry, but you'll have to let me have it.” The dialler said in a very officious tone.

“Very well.” Teal’c stated.

There was a cue if Daniel ever heard one. In one second, Teal’c had levelled the staff weapon and blasted the dialler through the midsection. The security guard looked away and Daniel drew the zat and shot him quickly. Teal’c was already dialling at the DHD when alarms filled the air. The sound of a zat being fired once more made Daniel look up to see Mollem fall to the ground and Jack scramble for the piston gun in the bag

The automated defences were kicking in and firing lasers at Teal’c and his friend. Daniel took cover behind a pillar and fired at the, disarming a few. But it didn’t help much. Teal’s friend fell first, a laser right through his forehead. The lasers turned their full arsenal on Teal’c, and Daniel fired at more of the lasers. He didn’t know how Teal’c managed to do it, but the gate activated.

Jack must have punched in the G.D.O code since he now raised the piston gun and fired the line right over the stargate. He fastened it and set himself up to zip down it. Teal’c moved out in the open, and Daniel fired at more of the automated defences, seeing what Teal’c was trying to do; if they could draw enough fire away from Jack, the message would get through.

Daniel felt a small wave of despair when Teal’c went down, the lasers firing more frequently now. Jack had only just freed himself and landed on the ground. Daniel shifted now, firing at more of the automated defences as Jack grabbed the piece of paper from his pocket and ran for the gate.

But it still did no good; the lasers seemed to triple their shots now and Jack was slowing down as he went up the steps. When Jack went down and didn’t get back up, Daniel forced down the bile that was rising in the back of his throat and ran out, ignoring the searing pain of the lasers as they hit him.

But with no one to draw the lasers away, he was taking the full brunt. He didn’t even make it to take the message from Jack’s hand, collapsing on the stairs close to him. He could vaguely hear the sound of hurried footsteps and loud voices, but it was submersed in the fading pain and growing blackness.

The last thing he saw before it all went completely dark was Jack’s sightless eyes staring back at him. And he somehow knew that it had been worth the trip up to Minnesota.

______________________________________

“Well, sir, the UAV data says that the planet is perfectly safe. In fact, it might as well be another Earth.”

“I would have to agree with Major Carter; medically speaking, you should have no problem when you go there.” Frasier stated.

“And the photos from the UAV did show definite signs of human habitation,” Daniel added. “Not to mention some interesting structures and the like.”

Jack finally tuned out everything they were saying; not that it was Daniel speaking, but there was only so much geek-speak he could take in one sitting. And he had just officially passed his threshold.

“Plus P4C-970 is close enough to reach by interstellar travel and –” Carter started again.

The klaxon sounded, indicating an incoming traveller. Jack had never been happier to hear that sound. Everyone was out of the briefing room and in the control room, though they lingered back as Hammond went to Sergeant Davis.

“Who is it?”

“It’s…” Davis sounded extremely confused now. “SG-1, sir.”

That definitely had Jack’s attention. “Hello…”

“How can that be?” Frasier asked, clearly confused as well.

Jack would be surprised if anyone else in the control wasn’t confused by this strange event. Considering all the things he did, he wasn’t all that surprised really. If he was constantly beamed up by “little grey aliens”, had a robot double and downloaded information from a long dead civilization in his mind, he’d start worrying if he had a completely normal day.

General Hammond turned to him, wanting an explanation. All Jack could offer in the way of a reply was to shrug his shoulders. He was used to strange things like this; it didn’t mean he had an explanation for it.

“Let’s find out then,” Hammond said as he bent down to speak into the microphone. “Defence teams, stand by,” he turned to Davis. “Open the iris.”

Jack watched as the teams got into position; he was struck by a niggling feeling that he should get to that room first. His feet were already carrying him down the stairs to the gate room. Apparently everyone else decided to take his cue, following after him. The familiar scrape of the iris opening reached his ears as the side blast door opened slowly. The event horizon shimmered for a moment, a piece of paper bouncing to a stop on the ramp, before it disengaged.

“Stand down,” Hammond ordered the defence teams. “What is it?”

Jack jogged up the ramp and picked up the piece of paper. He uncrumpled it, facing his own handwriting. He started back down the ramp, looking at it in confusion. And in the corner, he could make out Daniel’s messy scrawl. But it was so damned small he would have to bring the paper right to his eyes to see it properly. Not that his eyesight was going… but how could someone write in a hand so small but so messy at the same time?

“Well?”

Daniel’s voice prompted him to look up. Daniel was standing at the end of the ramp, hands in pockets and looking expectantly at Jack. Jack had to remind himself to not keep staring and to say something.

“You tell me.” Jack held the note out to Daniel.

Daniel took the note with a momentary bemused look. “Under no circumstances go to P4C-970. Colonel Jack O’Neill,” he paused. “That looks like your handwriting.”

“It is my handwriting. And that's my signature.” Jack answered.

“Though you sent no such note.” Teal’c stated.

“No.”

“Sir, may I?” Frasier asked, stepping up. “That looks like blood, sir.”

“Have it analysed.” Hammond ordered.

“General,” Jack asked as Frasier left the gate room. “Wasn’t 970 on our mission list?”

“It was. Not any more,” Hammond said firmly. “I’m not taking any chances,” he looked up to the control room. “I want P4C-970 removed from the dialling computer immediately.” He looked back at them, “Dismissed.”

Jack sat down on the side of the ramp as Hammond left the gate room, elbows resting on his knees and contemplating his boots.

“I wonder why you sent it…” Carter paused. “I wonder when.”

“Yeah,” Jack said looking up and just past her; Daniel was having a murmured conversation with Teal’c. “You gotta wonder…”

“Jack, me and Teal’c are going to take off,” Daniel said. “He’s going to help me with cataloguing all the stuff that SG-7 brought back from P9G-874.”

“I should get going actually,” Carter said. “I’ve got some stuff I’ve been putting off for a bit.”

Jack nodded and waved them off, sitting on the gate ramp for a few more seconds before he rose and headed up for Frasier’s workstation. She was busy, bent over the paper and doing something when he knocked on the door.

“Colonel, you’re here voluntarily?” Frasier asked with a curious gleam in her eye. “I guess you’re ready for that prostate exam?”

“Er, not quite,” Jack said, keeping his back to the door. “I was wondering if you were finished with that note of mine yet.”

“Not quite. I have to wait for the test results to come back. That’ll take a few more minutes actually.”

“I can wait.”

Frasier looked decidedly curious now. “What do you want with the note?”

“Well, it is mine,” Jack began. “Besides, I want to ask Daniel if there was anything that he saw that could indicate hostiles on P4C-970.”

“Isn’t that a bit after the fact? It’s been locked out.”

“I’ll sleep easier at night.” Jack replied with a shrug.

“If you head up to the infirmary –” Frasier began.

“No. Prostate. Exam.” Jack said firmly.

“Colonel, you’ve been putting it off for –”

“Ah,” Jack interrupted. ”Am I healthy?”

“Yes, but –”

“Am I fit?”

“Yes, but –” Frasier tried again.

“And I’m not about to keel over?” Jack asked.

Frasier looked extremely frustrated. “No, but –”

“Ah,” Jack interrupted again as a machine gave a long beep. “Your machine is paging you.”

Frasier frowned and hurried over to the machine. Jack lunged forward and grabbed the paper, making a straight beeline for the door.

“See ya later Doc!” he called as he bolted into the hallway.

“Colonel!” Frasier called after him in frustration.

Jack chuckled as he hurried around a corner, taking the quickest path to Daniel’s office. He didn’t want to take the chance that Frasier would come hunting him down. When he reached Daniel’s office, he peered in to find Daniel and Teal’c busy with a few stacked boxes of things.

“Jack, what are you doing here?” Daniel asked once he saw Jack in the doorway. “Don’t you have paperwork you need to be doing, or something?”

“I came about this,” Jack held up the note.

“Well Jack, that doesn’t need translating; it’s in English.” Daniel said after a moment.

“I know that. But it must have come from P4C-970 or the like. Or maybe they followed us back to Earth. I don’t know. What I want to know is did you see anything that could indicate that there are hostiles on the planet.”

Daniel blinked at that, obviously surprised. “Well, my preliminary analysis of the photos didn’t indicate that, but I’m still working on translating the language; did you want it right away?”

“I can wait,” Jack said, looking around. “Keep working.”

He finally settled on taking the seat at Daniel’s desk. There were stacks of books in front and on its edge. If Frasier did come stomping in here, she wouldn’t see him at all. When he sat down, he noticed the small handwriting in the corner once more. He opened a few drawers until he found a magnifying glass. He pulled the note forward and moved the glass until he could read it perfectly. It was right at that moment that Frasier made herself vocally known.

“Daniel,” her voice was livid. “Have you seen Colonel O’Neill?”

“Um,” Daniel clearly sounded perplexed. “No?”

Jack winced and slid down in the chair at the questioning tone in Daniel’s voice. He was just supposed to say flat out no, nothing else, nothing to introduce doubt. Hadn’t Daniel learnt to lie through his teeth by now? That was a very handy skill to have.

“No?” Frasier echoed

“No.” Daniel said more decisively.

Frasier didn’t say anything for a moment. “Well, if you do see him, don’t tell him I’m looking for him. He’s skipped out of his prostate exam for the last time.”

Daniel didn’t reply for a long moment. “I’ll make sure to not tell him.”

Jack didn’t move until he heard Frasier’s steps walking down the hallway. Daniel was murmuring to Teal’c now and footsteps came once more, followed by the door closing and locking. Jack didn’t sit up in the seat until there was silence in the room. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned his attention back to the small hand in on the paper. When the sound of a chair settling beside his came, he looked over and saw Daniel sitting down behind the books as well. Teal’c wasn’t in the room and Jack wasn’t complaining about that; it seemed to be nothing short of murder to get Daniel alone when he wanted to be alone with him.

“You know Jack,” Daniel began conversationally. “My lab isn’t your hide-from-Janet bunker.”

“I wasn’t hiding.”

“Oh?”

“It was strategic placement of my body away from the Napoleonic power monger.”

Daniel snorted in amusement. “Well, next time strategically place your body somewhere other than my lab. If she finds out I lied, she’ll give us both the mother of all prostate exams.”

“What are you worried about? You’re young.” Jack replied.

“Do you really think that will matter to her?” Daniel asked.

Jack paused; Daniel had a very good point there. He looked at the door. “Did you lock the door?”

“I’m not taking the chance that Janet will come walking by and see you in here.” Daniel replied. “What are you doing?”

“Looking at this,” Jack pointed with the magnifying glass. “Apparently you wrote something on it too.”

“I did?” Daniel sounded surprised.

“Do you know anyone else who could write so small and so messily?”

Daniel flushed at that and Jack felt a smile coming to his face. “What does it say?”

Jack moved the magnifying glass once more, squinting. “Do not trust the Aschen.”

“I guess that’s the name of the people that are on P4C-970,” Daniel commented. “So much for my theory of well preserved ruins. I’ll still work on those translations. What’s the rest say?”

“I can’t make it out; someone has a very messy scrawl.” Jack replied.

Daniel took the magnifying glass from him and bent over to see it. “Don’t be complete asses about…” he trailed off, face flushing.

“About?” Jack asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Daniel shrugged as he handed the magnifying glass back to Jack. “Could you pass me the folder of photos in the top drawer there?”

Jack shook his head. “I want to know what you were talking about.”

Daniel sighed. “Don’t be complete asses about it.”

“It? What’s it?” Jack asked.

“It. I don’t know.”

Jack resisted the urge to smirk as Daniel opened a book and started flipping through it. “I think you do know.”

Daniel looked at him, ready to say something but he stopped when he saw the expression on Jack’s face. Obviously he wasn’t expecting seriousness. Jack had to fight the urge to smirk even more.

“What do you think ‘it’ is?” Daniel asked, his voice a whisper.

“Us.” Jack replied frankly; after all what else could it be?

Daniel didn’t say anything for a long moment. “I didn’t want you to find out about it this way.” He paused, brow furrowing. “You’re not freaked out by this?”

“Me?” Jack shrugged and reclined back in the seat a bit. “Why would I be? I’ve only been ogling your ass every time you’re in front of me.”

Daniel’s cheeks turned scarlet once more. “You’ve been ogling me?”

“I’m the sort of man who isn’t against appreciating what nature endows others with,” Jack finally let the smirk break through. “And might I say, you’ve been endowed with one very fine ass.”

“Jack!” Daniel hissed. “We’re on base!”

“I know,” Jack smirked even more. “But I’ve noticed something very interesting about your desk.”

“What about it?” Daniel asked warily.

“It’s in the camera’s blind spot,” Jack began. “And you have all these books stacked here. Plus, there’s no audio.” He paused. “What have you been doing at your desk Daniel?”

Daniel couldn’t meet Jack’s eye and Jack felt very intrigued, but he didn’t press it. That could always wait until later.

“Jack,” Daniel finally said. “Do what I said and don’t be a complete ass.”

“I wouldn’t say that I’m being a complete ass… and even then, it would depend on your definition of ‘ass’, per se.”

Daniel groaned and shook his head. “I’m not getting in a semantic argument with you about the definition of ass.”

“Well, how about you swing by my place later on tonight?”

“What for?” Daniel asked, after a moment.

“Watch a movie, have some takeout.” Jack said.

“Sounds good,” Daniel paused. “Are we going to talk about… you know, ‘it’?”

Jack nodded his head. “We’ll talk about that there.”

Daniel smiled and half stood in his seat before he paused and looked at Jack. Jack was smiling innocently at him, hands still behind his head. Daniel stood slowly and walked out from behind the desk. Jack couldn’t help but oblige and give a whistle. Daniel’s face coloured again and he turned his head. That was when Jack struck, hand reaching forward and pinching Daniel on the ass.

“Jack!” Daniel yelped, jumping like he was stung.

“We’ll also get into that semantic debate about ‘ass’ as well.” He leered, waggling his eyebrows.

Jack couldn’t help but snicker at the expression on Daniel’s face; the archaeologist looked like he didn’t know whether to snipe, ignore Jack or tear him a new one. After a bit, he settled on going back to his workstation. Jack stood up from the desk and ambled out towards the door. He unlocked it and peered out; no Frasier in sight.

“See you at eight?” he asked, pausing in the doorway.

Daniel looked at him, before he nodded with a slight smile on his face. Jack grinned and waved goodbye before he walked out into the hallway.

He was definitely looking forward to tonight.

______________________________________


End file.
